UK COVID-19 Inquiry publishes first report

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry published their first report and recommendations on the UK's pandemic resilience and preparedness.

Today the UK Covid-19 Inquiry published their first report and recommendations following its investigation into the UK’s resilience and preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The overall aim of the independent public Inquiry is to examine the response to, and impact of, the COVID-19 pandemic, to learn lessons for the future. The Inquiry’s investigations are separated into different modules.

Following evidence hearings, recommendations for changes have been developed and put in report in various formats. This particular module, or investigation, report examines the state of the UK’s central structures and procedures for pandemic emergency preparedness, resilience and response.

Politicians have to make tough decisions about how to use resources to prepare for emergencies. Preparing for a pandemic or any other emergency costs money, even if it is an event that might not happen.

However, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has found that the system of building preparedness for the pandemic, or rather our ability to deal with a pandemic, suffered from several significant flaws.

If the UK and devolved Governments had been better prepared, some of the massive financial, economic and human cost of the Covid-19 pandemic could have been avoided.

The ALLIANCE welcomes that the voices of those who were bereaved and the very real impact COVID-19 had on their lives and their loved ones is front and centre in this report. We must never forget this.

“There must be radical reform. Never again can a disease be allowed to lead to so many
deaths and so much suffering”.

The report also found that despite prior pandemic preparedness exercises having been undertaken, lessons were not shared, debated nor lessons implemented.  Rather, it was found that: “The UK government and devolved administrations were overly focused on conducting exercises and producing reports, rather than on learning the lessons and implementing their recommendations.”.

In addition, it was found that the potential effect of health inequalities had not been routinely included as a specific exercise objective in previous pandemic preparedness exercises. It describes that the long term, unfair and avoidable health inequalities in the UK was a significant factor that had not been accounted for and places the UK at greater risk of harms associated with a pandemic and other public health emergencies.

The impact of the disease did not fall equally. Research suggests that, in the UK, mortality rates were significantly higher among people with a physical or learning disability and people with pre-existing conditions, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. People from some ethnic minority groups and those living in deprived areas had a significantly higher risk of being infected by Covid-19 and dying from it.

As a result, this first report recommends a major overhaul of how every administration across the UK prepares for future whole-system civil emergencies.

As we have highlighted in our evidence to the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry, there was also a lack of engagement with civil society in planning for the response across the UK. Recognising the third sector’s contribution during the pandemic must involve our inclusion in future preparedness planning

“…The massive financial, economic and human cost of the Covid-19 pandemic is proof that, in the area of preparedness and resilience, money spent on systems for our protection is vital and will be vastly outweighed by the cost of not doing so”.

The ALLIANCE believes that it is of vital importance that future assessments are informed by a human rights based approach. This is in line with the reports recommendation that future pandemic preparedness should include identifying measures for prevention of harms and mitigating actions such as investing in public services. Having strong and robust public services will protect and fulfill people’s rights in the long term.

A summary of the report is available in a variety of languages and formats including English, Welsh, English Easy Read and British Sign Language.

Read the report and recommendations in full, and watch the Chair of the Inquiry, Baroness Heather Hallett, set out her report recommendations.

Reports related to the Inquiry’s further Modules will be published later. A full list of the topics that the Inquiry is investigating can be found on the Inquiry’s website.

End of page.